Chip manufacturer Freescale has launched a new processor targeting an …

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Despite the fact that their keyboards are hand-cripplingly small, the "netbook" sector of computer sales continues to grow and expand. Whether it's the small form factor or the significantly lower price tag, these computers are appearing on shelves from almost every major manufacturer. To keep prices low and save precious system resources, many manufacturers are preinstalling Linux on these machines.

Freescale Semiconductor (formerly the chipmaking division of Motorola) hopes to get in on the action, launching a new, low-cost processor they call the i.MX515. According to Freescale the chip is designed to power "low-power, gigahertz performance netbooks at sub-$200 price points". Sporting an ARM Cortex-A8 core, Freescale claims that the i.MX515 performs from around 600mHz to 1 GHz and provides up to 2,100 Dhrystone MIPS (million instructions per second). When it comes to memory, the chip supports mobile DDR1 in addition to DDR2, allowing for a bit more flexibility in configuration.

What makes the i.MX515 exciting, however, is the battery life that it can potentially bring to its machines. According to Freescale's statistics, the chip will have the capability to power machines with up to 8 hours of battery life, with a display as large as 8.9 inches. The company included many advanced power management features such as a dedicated, hardware-based video acceleration block, supposedly allowing for this long battery life and significantly cooling things down. Freescale claims that there is no need for heat sinks or fans with the processor.

According to Henri Richard, chief sales and marketing officer at Freescale, any OEM that hasn't yet got into the netbook space is "making a huge mistake". "It's happening, it's there, it's real. And if you're not there to take advantage of it, you're going to miss big," the former AMD executive warned. The real question is: how much of an offering will there be for computers in Freescale's target price range? It is currently reported that Freescale will showcase a Pegatron (ASUS spinoff) built netbook at CES this week, and Asustech also reportedly has plans to release a sub-$200 computer in the coming months.

All we know at this point is that these computers will almost definitely be running Linux - these chips just can't provide enough CPU power to run any Windows operating system, including netbook standard XP.